Guard Play covers the skills and attributes necessary to be a successful point guard or shooting guard. Not only does it present the finer points of shooting, passing, ballhandling, moving without the ball, free throws and defense, it discusses intangilbles such as leadership, toughness and confidence. Steve Alford was Indiana's high school Mr. Basketball in 1983 and an All-American at Indiana University, where he led the Hoosiers to the NCAA championship in 1987. He played on the gold medal 1984 U.S. Olympic team and later in the NBA for four years before becoming the head coach at Manchester College and later at Southwest Missouri State University. He is currently head coach at the University of Iowa. Ed Schilling was a four-year started at Miami of Ohio where he set a Mid-American Conference record with 17 assists in one game. He was head coach at Logansport (IN) High School for four years before becoming an assistant to John Calipari at UMass in 1995.

Most basketball teams use two guards: a point guard and a shooting guard. A shooting guard has many responsibilities on the basketball court. They’re known for their ability to shoot the ball as well as their defensive skills. Readers learn about these and other skills and strategies essential to a shooting guard’s game as they explore this important position on the basketball court. Exciting, full-color photographs of shooting guards keep readers entertained as they learn through detailed text and helpful fact boxes. Readers will even learn the secrets behind some of the most creative shots basketball players can take!

STUFF Good Players Should Know may very well be the best book ever written for basketball players. It is conversational and easy to understand, yet filled with subtle insights into the game of basketball. STUFF is page after page of creative concepts, common sense, and special tips that can not be found anywhere else. ? How do you guard a stronger player? ? How do you set up a game-winning steal? ? How do you ?strip? a rebound? ? How do you score with a strong-handed dribble while going to the weak side? ? How do you practice shooting for maximum game effectiveness? ? How do you recognize defensive changes? STUFF is like having a coach right beside you, in your room, discussing the fine points of the games. How do you think in the minutes of the game? How do you react to mistakes? What is your attitude about fouls? Eating? Superstitions? Injuries? All this and more makes STUFF a book that players will find indispensable. Basketball fans will enjoy it, but players won't do

-It's basketball season for the home team but Gus must wrestle with prejudice when he's the only one bothered by Cassie joining the boys' team and his teammate Steve makes fun of Gus's Dominican heritage---

Supported by sample drills, this handbook provides technical and tactical instruction for each phase of the game. 36 photos.

Are top scorers really the most valuable players? Are games decided in the final few minutes? Does the team with the best player usually win?Thinking Basketball challenges a number of common beliefs about the game by taking a deep dive into the patterns and history of the NBA. Explore how certain myths arose while using our own cognition as a window into the game's popular narratives. New basketball concepts are introduced, such as power plays, portability and why the best player shouldn't always shoot. Discover how the box score can be misleading, why "closers" are overrated and how the outcome of a game fundamentally alters our memory. Behavioral economics, traffic paradoxes and other metaphors highlight this thought-provoking insight into the NBA and our own thinking. A must-read for any basketball fan -- you'll never view the sport, and maybe the world, the same again.

Journey "inside the numbers" for an exceptional set of statistical tools and rules that can help explain the winning, or losing, ways of a basketball team. Basketball on Paper doesn't diagram plays or explain how players get in shape, but instead demonstrates how to interpret player and team performance. Dean Oliver highlights general strategies for teams when they're winning or losing and what aspects should be the focus in either situation. He describes and quantifies the jobs of team leaders and role players, then discusses the interactions between players and how to achieve the best fit. Oliver conceptualizes the meaning of teamwork and how to quantify the value of different types of players working together. He examines historically successful NBA teams and identifies what made them so successful: individual talent, a system of putting players together, or good coaching. Oliver then uses these statistical tools and case studies to evaluate the best players in history, such as Magic Johnson, Wilt Chamberlain, Bill Russell, and Charles Barkley and how they contributed to their teams' success. He does the same for some of the NBA's "oddball" players-Manute Bol, Muggsy Bogues, and Dennis Rodman and for the WNBA's top players. Basketball on Paper is unique in its incorporation of business and analytical concepts within the context of basketball to measure the value of players in a cooperative setting. Whether you're looking for strategies or new ideas to throw out while watching the ballgame at a sports bar, Dean Oliver'sBasketball on Paper will give you amazing new insights into teamwork, coaching, and success.